Moving stairway



Dec. '17, 1929. M. c. SCHWAB 1,740,121

movxm snmwn Filed May 27. 1927 '5 Sheets-Sheet 1 H62 mverrrop k BYATTORNEY Dec. 17 1929. c, sc w 1,740,121

MOVING STAIRWAY Filed May 27. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Mm CSM INVEHTQE 5ATTORNEY Dec. 17, 1 929. Q SCHWAB "1,740,121

MOVING STAIRWAY Filed May 27,. 1927 S She'etSrSheet 5 156.5 fia 56.7

Ma/JZM C. M mvEn'ros Patented Dec; 17, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEMARTIN C. SCHWAB, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO OTIS ELEVATORCOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY MOVING STAIRWAYApplication filed May 27,

This invention relates to moving stairways.

One feature of the invention is the provision of a moving stairway inwhich the number of lanes of traflic may be varied.

A second feature of. the invention is to provide hand rails for movingstairways ofthe above character that will divide the trailic into aplurality of lanes.

A third feature of the invention lies in the provision of hand railsthat may be readily removed from the moving stairway when desired.

A fourth feature of the invention is to provide hand rails that occupy aminimum of space.

Still another feature of the invention lies in the provision of handrails that are readily installed and which are silent and positive inoperation.

Other features and advantages will become apparent from thespecification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawingswherein the invention is embodied in concrete form.

In the drawings Figure 1 is an end view with parts broken away of theupper landing of a moving stairway made in accordance with thisinvention; Figure 2 is a view with parts broken away taken along line 22of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an end view with parts broken away of the lower landing ofthemoving stairway of Figure 1;

Figure 4 IS a view with parts broken away taken along the line 4-4 ofFigure 3;

Figure 5 is a view taken along line 5--5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 but illustrates a plurality ofhand rails;

Figure 7 is a View taken along the line 77 of Figure 2; and

Figure 8 is a schematic view'in side elevation of a moving stairway andillustrates a side hand rail.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4 and to Figure 8, a moving stairway 1 extendsbetween landings 3 and 4. The steps 5 of moving stairway 1 have theirrisers 6 secured to axles 7. Axles 7 have wheels 8 mounted upon theirends. Wheels 8 are arranged to ride on suit- 1927. Serial N0. 194,706.

the wheels 12. Driving sprockets 16 are secured to the driving shaft 22.

A driving motor 23 is arranged to drive the moving stairway 1. The shaftof motor 23 isoperativcly connected by means of a worm and worm wheelwithin a casing 24, a sprocket 25 mounted on the worm wheel shaft 19 anda sprocket chain 26 to a sprocket 27 sccuredto the driving shaft 22. Abrake 28 is mounted on the motor shaft between the motor'23 and thecasing 24.

Hand rails 30 and 31 are supported on the balustrades 32 and 33 at thesides of the moving stairway 1 and are movable along with the movingstairway. As both of these hand rails are arranged and drvien in asimilar manner, the arrangement and drive for only one of them, namely,hand rail 30, will be described. As illustrated in Figure 8, the handrail 30 extends around an idler pulley 34 positioned at landing 3. Frompulley 34 this hand rail extends upwardly and over a pulley 35positioned at the landing 4. From the pulley 35 the hand rail 30 extendsaround a pulley 36, around an inclined tightener pulley 37 and around apulley 38 that is concentric with pulley 35. From pulley 38 the handrail 30 extends downwardly around an idler pulley 40 and thence topulley 34. A sprocket chain 41 extends around sprocket wheels 42 and 43that are secured to the pulleys 38 and 36 respectively. From thesprocket wheels 43 the sprocket chain 41 extends around an adjustableidler sprocket 44 and around a driving sprocket wheel 45 that is securedto the driving shaft 22. From the driving sprocket wheel 45 the chain 41extends around an idler sprocket 46 and thence to the sprocket wheel 42.

During the operation of the moving stairway, the driving sprocket wheel45 turns with the driving shaft 22 and causes the sprocket chain 41 todrive the sprocket wheels 42 and 43 so that the pulleys 38 and 36revolve and effect movement of the hand rails 30 and 3 1 in synchronismwith the moving stairway 1.

According to the preferred arrangement, a balustrade 47 (Figures 1 to 5)extends be tween landings 3 and 4 and is positioned between thebalustrades 32 and 33. The lower end portion 48 of the balustrade 47 issupported upon the landing 3 while the higher end portion 50 of thebalustrade is supported upon the landing 4. These end portions ofbalustrade 47 are retained in fixed position on the landings 3 and 4 asbybolts. The intermediate portion 51 of this balustrade ex tends abovethe moving stairway 1. A hand rail 52 is supported on the balustrade 47.Hand rail 52 extends around an idler pulley 53 positioned at the landing3. From the idler-pulley 53 the hand rail 52 extends upwardly along thebalustrade 47. A guide 55 is secured to a stationary subrail 49 that ismounted upon the hollow frame 54 ofbalustrade 47 and guides the handrail 52 along this balustrade. See also Figure 7. At the landing 4 thehand rail 52 extends over an idler pulley 56, thence around a pulley 57at the end of the balustrade and thence around a pulley 58. From thepulley 58 the hand rail twists through anangle of one hundred and eightydegrees and extends around a tightener pulley 60. From the tightenerpulley 60 the hand rail extends over an idler pulley 61, thence,twisting through an angle of one hundred and eighty degrees, it extendswithin the frame 54 to the lower end portion 48 of the balustrade andunder an idler pulley 62. From the idler pulley 62 the hand rail 52extends to the idler pulley 53. Pulleys 53, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61 and 62are mounted on shafts that are carried by the frame 54 of the balustrade47.

The shaft supporting the tightener pulley 60 is secured to a bracket 63that is slidably mounted upon guide rods 64' and 65. Guide rods 64 and65 have their ends secured to angle bars 66 and 67 constituting a partof the frame 54. One end of a threaded rod 68 is secured to the bracket63 and the other end of this rod extends through an aperture provided inthe an le bar 66. A hand wheel 70 is threaded on t e free endof the rod68 and I a reduced portion 72 of the worm wheel shaft 19. A sprocketchain .7 3'exteiids around the s rocket wheel 71 and is arranged todrive e hand rail 52. From the sprocket wheel 71 the chain 73 extendsupwardly and around a tightener s rocket wheel 74. From the tightenersproc et wheel 74 the chain 73 extends around a sprocket wheel 75 thatis concentric with and is secured to the pulley 57. From the sprocketwheel 75 the chain 73 extends around a sprocket wheel 76 that isconcentric with and is secured to the pulley 58. From the sprocket wheel7 6 the chain 73 extends over, an idler sprocket wheel 77 and thence tothe driving sprocket wheel 71.

The tightener sprocket wheel 74 is adapted to tighten the sprocket chain73 in the same manner as the tightener pulley 60 is adapted to tightenthe hand rail 52. The hand wheel used for adjusting the position of thetightener sprocket wheel 74 is designated 69. A door 79 is provided inthe balustrade 47 in order to provide access to the hand wheels 70 and69.

During the operation of the moving stairway 1 the sprocket wheel 71turns with the worm wheel shaft 19 and causes the sprocket chain 73 torevolve the sprocket wheels 75 and 76. Pulleys 57 and 58 turn with thesprocket wheels 75 and 76 and cause the hand rail 52 to move along withthe hand rails 30 and 31 and with the moving stairway 1. Owing to theratio of the various sprocket wheels used in driving the hand rails,these. rails move at a surface speed that is the same as that of themoving stairway 1.

As' illustrated in Figure 6, the intermediate balustrade 47 may carrytwo hand rails 78 and 81 instead of the single hand rail 52. In thisevent the hand rail pulleys are duplicated but only one sprocket chainis used for driving the hand rail. Chain 80 drives sprockets 82 and 83.Each of these sprockets is secured to a pair of adjacent hand railpulleys.

If desired, the balustrade 47 may be completely removed from the movingstairway 1 by disconnecting the bolts holding this balustrade to thelandings 3 and 4 and by removing the sprocket chain 73 from the drivingsprocket wheel 71. In this event the moving stairway. Several advantagesresult from' this, for example, by suitable partitions either at theupper or lower landings, or at both landings, with the removablebalustrades in place, traflic may be guided from and to different areassuch as different departments in a department store.

A further advantage, especially in connection with double file movingstairways, is that the center balustrade prevents a passenger fromoccupying more than his share of the width of the moving stairway sothat the carrying capacity of the stairway is considerably increased;

Any number of intermediate hand rails and supporting balustrades may bepositioned over the moving stairway 1, depending upon the requirementsof the particular installation.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely difi'ercnt embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingsshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

-' What is claimed is:

1. ,In combination, a moving stairway, and a a movable hand rail forsaidstairway, said hand rail extending above said stairway and arranged todivide the traffic on said stairway.

2. In combination, a moving stairway, a movable hand rail for saidstairway extending in the direction of motion thereof, said hand railbeing positioned intermediate the sides of the stairway to divide thestairway into two lanes, and a balustrade for supporting said hand rail,said balustrade extending above said stairway and being supported uponthe landings served by said stalrway, said balustrade and hand railbeing removable to join said lanes into a single lane.

3; In combination, a moving stairway, movable hand rails extending alongthe sides of said stairway, a movable hand rail extending along thecentral portion of said stairway, an (ll means for driving said movablehand rai s.

4. In combination, a moving stairway, and v a plurality of hand railsfor said stairway, said hand rails extending in the direction of motionof said stairway and dividing the traffic on said stairway into aplurality of lanes.

5. In combination, a moving stairway, a. balustradepositionedintermediate the sides of said stairway and extending in thedirection of movement of said stairway, and a movable endless hand railcarried by said balustrade, the longitudinal centerlines of the runs ofsaid endless hand rail being in a common plane.

6. In combination, a moving stairway, abalustrade positionedintermediate the sides of said stairway and extending in the directionofmovementof said stairway, pulleys .carried by said balustrade, anendless hand rail extending along said balustrade and around saidpulleys, and means for driving one of said pulleys so as to cause saidhand rail to movein synchronism with said stairway. a v

'7. In" combination, a moving stairway, a

I balustrade positioned intermediate the. sides of said moving stairwayand extending ii the direction of movement of said moving stairway,pulleys carried by said balustrade,

having all points of its longitudinal center- 7 line in a common plane,means for driving one of said pulleys so as to cause said hand rail tomove in synchronism with said stairway and means for moving another ofsaid pulleys so as to eliminate slack in said hand rail.

'In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

MARTIN C. SCHWAB.

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